塞浦路斯裔的法國鋼琴家卡薩里斯 1951 年 5 月 5 日出生於馬賽，四歲時開始練習鋼琴，幼年在喀麥隆（Cameroon）度過。卡薩里斯的第一位鋼琴教師為羅維斯女士（Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse），後來他就讀巴黎高等音樂學院，向巴倫徹女士（Aline van Barentzen）與布魯荷麗蕾女士（Monique de la Bruchollerie）學習，1969 年拿到鋼琴一等獎；也向樂華（René Leroy）與胡博（Jean Hubeau）學習室內樂，1970 年拿到室內樂一等獎。卡薩里斯 1977 年於布拉提斯拉瓦奪得聯合國教科文組織壇講台的青年詮釋者獎，1974 年在凡爾賽獲得國際季弗拉大賽的首獎；在 1972 年的比利時伊莉莎白皇后國際鋼琴大賽裡，所有進入決賽的參賽者中，只有他一位是西歐的鋼琴家。卡薩里斯 1970 年在巴黎也獲得魯賽爾基金會大獎，1972 年也在安特衛普大賽「Alex de Vries Foundation Competition」中獲勝。

卡薩里斯於 1966 年 5 月 8 日首度登台，地點是巴黎的香榭麗舍戲劇院，那時他被視為是青年鋼琴大賽裡的「騎士」，演奏李斯特的匈牙利幻想曲，獲得好評。卡薩里斯與世界上最重要的管弦樂團合作，包括柏林愛樂、德勒斯登國立歌劇院管弦樂團、柏林德意志交響樂團、西南德交響樂團、維也納室內管弦樂團、克里夫蘭管弦樂團等等……，與卡薩里斯合作過的指揮大師則包括伯恩斯坦、羅斯托波維契、拉圖爵士、鄭明勳、杜南伊、杜特華、杜拉第、伊凡費雪、哈農庫特、肯特長野、柯隆、馬克拉斯爵士、巴夏伊、維赫、費多塞耶夫、薩拉斯特等等。慕辛格在他 1986 年的告別音樂會上，邀請卡薩里斯與斯圖加特室內樂管弦樂團合作演出海頓的 D 大調鋼琴協奏曲。此外，卡薩里斯也創立「卡薩里斯鋼琴五重奏」，這個室內樂團巡迴歐洲、日本與美國演出，均獲得報刊雜誌與聽眾的廣泛好評。

卡薩里斯在 Teldec 灌錄過許多唱片，拿下 1985 年華沙的蕭邦唱片大獎、1984 與 1989 年皆拿下布達佩斯特的李斯特唱片大獎、1986 拿獲得大不列顛音樂大獎，而他灌錄李斯特改編貝多芬的第九號交響曲鋼琴版錄音，1984 年在德國拿下年度唱片大獎。卡薩里斯也先後在 Sony Classical、EMI、Deutsche Grammophon、BMG-RCA、Decca、Pavane 等唱片廠牌錄過音，而現在他的唱片則是由自有唱片品牌「PIANO 21」發行。卡薩里斯所灌錄過唱片的曲目包括巴哈的協奏曲（與李斯特室內樂管弦樂團）、布拉姆斯的第二號鋼琴協奏曲（殷巴爾指揮愛樂管弦樂團）、孟德爾頌的兩首鋼琴協奏曲（馬舒指揮萊比錫布商大廈管弦樂團）、莫札特的鋼琴協奏曲全集（在薩爾茲堡與維也納的現場音樂會錄音，與薩爾茲堡室內樂愛樂合作）；除了標準的曲目之外，卡薩里斯也會灌錄一些長久以來被人所遺忘的罕見作品，有的甚至是世界首演，包括李斯特改編柴可夫斯基的匈牙利風協奏曲（奧曼第指揮費城愛樂）、貝多芬芭蕾舞曲《普羅米修斯的創造》鋼琴版本（貝多芬本人改編）、馬勒《大地之歌》原稿鋼琴版本（與次女高音法絲賓德與男高音摩瑟合作）。

卡薩里斯在 1997 年獲選為聯合國教科文組織之和平藝術家（Artist of Unesco for Peace），2000 年獲得法國文化藝術功勞勳章騎士獎（ Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters）。

Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born on May 5th 1951 in Marseilles. He first began to play the piano at the age of four, in Cameroon where he spent his childhood. His first teacher was Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse.

A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where he studied piano with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie (piano First Prize, 1969), as well as chamber music with René Leroy and Jean Hubeau (First Prize, 1970), he won the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-UNESCO (Bratislava 1977), the First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and he was the only western-European prize-winner at the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition. He was also awarded the Albert Roussel Foundation Prize (Paris 1970) and the Alex de Vries Foundation Prize (Antwerp 1972).

His major international career includes performances with the world’s greatest orchestras, most notably The Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Washington D.C., Detroit Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. He has collaborated with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Mstslav Rostropovich, Sir Simon Rattle, Myung Whun Chung, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Antal Dorati, Ivan Fischer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Sir Charles Mackerras, Rudolf Barshai, Sandor Végh, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Dmitri Kitajenko, Andrey Boreyko, Christopher Warren-Green, Zdeněk Mácal, Xian Zhang, Paul Mann, Marios Papadopoulos… and Karl Münchinger, who on the festive occasion of his farewell concert in 1986, with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, personally invited Mr. Katsaris to perform the Haydn D major Concerto.

In addition to his activities as a soloist he founded the “Katsaris Piano Quintet”. This has received a very enthusiastic response from both the press and audiences in the Americas, Europe and Japan.

Mr. Katsaris has recorded extensively for Teldec (Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin, Warsaw 1985; Grand Prix du Disque Franz Liszt, Budapest 1984 and 1989; British Music Retailer’s Association’s Award 1986; Record of the Year 1984, Germany, for the 9th Symphony of Beethoven/Liszt), Sony Classical, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, BMG-RCA, Decca, Pavane, and now on his own label, PIANO 21.

In 1992, the Japanese NHK TV produced with Cyprien Katsaris a thirteen-program series on Frédéric Chopin which included masterclasses and his own performance. On 17 October 1999, the New York concertgoers offered him a standing ovation in Carnegie Hall for his recital dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, performed on the day of his 150th death Anniversary. This concert was recorded (audio and video) and has been issued on the PIANO 21 label. On 27 January 2006, the day of the 250th Anniversary of Mozart’s birth, he was the soloist at the inaugural concert of the Mozart Orchestra Mannheim founded and conducted by Thomas Fey. In March 2006 Cyprien Katsaris was the first pianist ever to give masterclasses in Franz Liszt’s house in Weimar since Liszt, who taught there for the very last time in 1886, the year of his death. In August 2008, he was invited to give two concerts on the occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

Mr. Katsaris’ work has been honoured and recognized by the following awards: “Artist of UNESCO for Peace” (1997), “Commandeur de l’Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg” (2009), “Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters” (France 2000), and “Knight of Merit of Cameroon” (1977). He also received the “Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris” (2001). He is a member of ADAP, the Association of Artists for Peace.